Gain the Competitive Edge with an Integrated Global Network

Supply Chain Management Blog

On December 12th, I’m excited to be presenting my first webinar for ModusLink on a topic that I’m super passionate about: helping our customers figure out ways to become more streamlined and efficient while still maintaining a strong connection to their customers.

At ModusLink, we are excited to announce that we have been named a recipient of Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s Green Supply Chain Award for 2016! Each year, the supply chain publication recognizes companies making green initiatives or sustainability a core part of their supply chain strategy, in addition to assisting their customers in achieving measurable sustainability goals for their businesses.

While the holiday season is something we all look forward to, it’s also one of the most stressful times of year. We’re cleaning the house, preparing for the in-law visits and making sure we get the right gifts for everyone on our list. To that end, e-commerce has become the modus operandi for holiday shoppers with an estimated $3.36 billion spent this year on Cyber Monday, topping last year’s totals. Online retailers like Amazon are very clear about deadlines for holiday delivery, so if we order on time there should be no issue, right?

As more and more enterprises shift from legacy on-premise to cloud-based technologies, software-as-a-service (SaaS) adoption is at an all-time high. There are many benefits to this approach – namely, cloud software is thought to help end users save money and simplify operations. This model is also the primary way in which service providers monetize their software.

With the summer behind us and the holiday season quickly coming up, companies are ramping up both their in-store and e-commerce operations, hiring workers and making sure everything’s set for the oncoming rush. One area that is often overlooked – but shouldn’t be – is the returns process. With research pointing towards some 30 percent of goods purchased online being returned, the importance of correctly managing this process cannot be overstated.

Anyone active in the E-commerce or payment industries can tell you fraud is constantly on the prowl. Just when your company has taken care of one possible occurrence of fraud, the next one pops up. Fraudsters never seem to sleep – and they are constantly evolving their approach.

As e-commerce continues to dominate retail on a global scale, it comes as no surprise that this year’s Singles’ Day – China’s single biggest online shopping day of the year with over 300 million active online buyers – is slated to break the sales records that were previously set in 2015 where one in every twelve people in China purchased something from Tmall, Alibaba’s online retail website.

Whether it is your choice leisure activity, your way of staying active and in shape, or your main method of transportation, cycling has continued to gain popularity all across the globe. From the mountains to the urban settings, cyclists are hitting the ground in droves. With technology finding its way into virtually all aspects of our lives, are we ready for the connected bike? The answer is yes. Its name is COBI, and ModusLink will make sure it ends up in your hands.

With the holiday season approaching and major global shopping events like Singles Day in China and Cyber Monday right around the corner, small and mid-size e-commerce vendors are contemplating how to maximize this opportunity for their business. For many, the obvious answer would be to get their products on Amazon. But how does it get there?